Hi,I am wanting to upgrade my track to a real F1 circuit. (As cheap as possible.)I am thinking about Monza (Italy). I have the Scalextric World Championship Set, with a pit lane, pit lane game and lap counter.My track looks like this:http://www.scalextric.com/track-designer/h...rd-digital-set/Please could you tell me what I will need to make my track like Monza. (Or another cheaper, F1 track.)Thanks,Luke

I love making replicas of F1 tracks (and pretty much anything else besides) that fit into tight spaces. How big a space do you have? Mine have to fit into what is effectively an 8x8 space in the middle of my room. Amongst others, I do: Interlagos, Imola, Hockenheim, Hungaroring, Monza, Brands Hatch, Monaco (though that pushes the space confines a bit), Anderstorpp, Laguna Seca, Long Beach, Vancouver, Nurburgring, Osterreichring, Estoril and Fuji.

With the addition of a few extra corners, you should be able to do any of them with your set up.

Fuji is probably my favourite, mainly because of the long straight and the mix of corners. The Osterreichring is very good also, there is not one place where you roll in to a total stop - it's just a case of how late do you dare go before gently lifting. Fun stuff!

If you want to do Monza though, I can post the track plan for that for you?

I used to do this quite a lot too, but soon came to the conclusion that real race circuits don't make good slot car tracks... I'm sure other people will disagree though .

I also used to play around with the design software to see what a "proper" slot car Grand Prix circuit would look like if I had the space and money... but of course on this type of thing you probably wouldn't be able to see the cars on the far side of the track.

Has anyone tried to build this track yet? This looks like a challenging one to duplicate with the elevation changes. This one could be a fun project for a scenery expert to try.

Full Throttle Productions, race promoters for the American Grand Prix which will return to the calendar in 2012, have revealed the layout of the brand-new Austin, Texas circuit designed by German Hermann Tilke.

I find that slot car tracks that look like real circuits feel nothing like the real circuit, to make it feel like the real circuit you need to over emphasise everything, ie; a corner that is a 90 degree corner in real life needs to be at least 135 degrees, and if it's a slow corner then emphasise it even more, you'll end up with something that looks nothing like the track you are trying to emulate.

the best slot layouts tend not to mimic real circuits exactly, but to take elements of the circuit or circuits, and then make them work better for slot racing.

If the link you gave shows your exact layout, what I would do next would be to get hold of some different corner pieces, and sprinkle them around the track. You have (looks like, anyway) mostly R2 corners, which is what comes standard in sets.

Throw a couple of R1 corners into the track and you get a circuit that is more challenging, and fun, to drive - a corner that right now is four Radius 2 pieces in a row changes completely if it's R2-R1-R1-R2, or R2-R1-R2-R1, and starts feeling like the F1 corners with multiple apexes (like the one that scuppered Vettel in wet practice!).

Here's what I'd do, as cheaply as possible. Download Ultimate Racer 3 - free track designer, and much better than the Scalextric version.Create your layout as it is now, and then try tweaking it a bit with some R1 bends, or throw in some R3 and R4 pieces. The R1 pieces are more likely to fit your requirement for tight space though. During this process you'll probably find yourself needing some half straights or quarter straights to make it fit together right.Have a look at Ebay, perhaps, although I've never bought track pieces from it so I can't give any advice there.

I'd say three or four packs of track could change the character of your layout for the better without a huge expense.

I used to do this quite a lot too, but soon came to the conclusion that real race circuits don't make good slot car tracks.

Agreed.Thinking about it full size race circuits usually have lots of space in the middle which just isn't needed for a slot car track. It's very rare for slot racers have a big enough track room to be that generous with unused space.Things like the need for drivers stood at one side of the track to see the cars all the way round just don't apply in full size race circuits. Marshalling access and marshals blocking the driver's view need thought on a slot car track but its quite different on full size race circuits.

The best slot designs work well because their designers have learned from the good points of other slot tracks, not from trying to mimic full size race circuit.

I'll dig out my Monza track plan later this evening and post that up for you.

And from experience, Suzuka and Catalunya are very difficult to do justice to in an 8x8-10x10 space! They are more rectangular shaped, and so any attempt to do them ends up looking out way of proportion.